Sometimes you take time to wonder about the nature of things! At least I do. (No wise cracks about the thinking part, please).

In baseball, what if Ted Williams didn’t serve his country, for three years? Would he still have hit for a career 400 plus batting average?

How much better would Muhammad Ali’s record be if he didn’t have to take three years off for refusing to join the military (religious reasons) during the Viet Nam war? Would “The Greatest” be even greater?

How good would Mike Tyson have been if not for the death of Cus D’mato and his time spent in the Indiana jail?

How many steroid free world champions are there now? And would they be champs if its use/abuse was not allowed? Heck, how many of them would be champions if the 15 round distance was still in effect for title fights?

Would there have been any more ring deaths if we stayed at 15 rounds for the championship distance?

Would Rocky Marciano have ended his career at 49-0, if the safety rules of today where implemented then? And would we now be looking at breaking Larry Holmes record of 48-0?

Where would boxing be today if Don King never got into boxing? Is he good for our sport?

Who takes over Kings organization when he decides to hang em up or passes on…For that matter who takes over anyone’s? And if there are changes made at that point would it be better or worse for our sport?

In boxing Agree or disagree, I’d like to hear from you.

(Rusty Rubin is an award winning boxing journalist, and managing editor of Ringsports.com, the magazine and website. His first boxing book, “Off The Canvas” will be out in the Spring. Orders are being taken for autographed copies on a first come first serve basis, at the cost of $12.50. Send check or money order toRingsports.com, Book, POB 18336, Reno, NV. 89511..

Glove2Glove:

Special prayers go out to Mills Lane for his complete recovery. Mills, who suffered a stroke a few years back may be down, but knowing him, he’s far from out.

Prayers are requested for the soul of Archie Hindman who passed away early this month in Indiana.

Prayers are requested for Ringsports.com photo journalist Dale Hausner of Arizona, who is having problems with cancer.

Prayers are requested for Kenneth E. Ryther father of our photo journalist Amy Green. Kenneth is suffering from Parkinsons.

Please say prayers for solid boxing guy, member of the WBHOF and all around class act Sabitini Arbucci who is recovering from cancer surgery.

Please say prayers for Phill Grazide of Santa Rosa, CA. a big supporter of amateur boxing, who is suffering the crippling effects of rheumatoid arthritis.

Chas. Shandor, father in law of Ringsports.com writer Nick Constantine has been diagnosed with cancer and needs your prayers.

Prayers are asked for and welcomed for LaVerne Gaither of Atlanta, who is having some serious medical problems.

Also down but not out with cancer is Kathy Ceravola, sister of top referee Elmo Adolph, and my best friend and co-founder of Glove2Glove, Susiey Walker.
Needless to say we need prayers for the return to health of both former champs Greg Page and Gerald McClellan, both confined to wheelchairs.

Glove2Glove is a non-denominational group set up to aide those boxing folks and their relatives in need of prayers and cards. We accept no money and only contact our members when someone is in need. It’s free to join. Simply send us your e-mail address. And even if you’re not a member, feel free to contact us if you are aware of some boxing person in need.

Classified:
Reader Ed Ramos has the following articles available for sale. All come with letter of authenticity
1- Rocky Marciano golden gloves autographed 1968 trophy-$700.This trophy comes with a notarized letter of authenticity. The autograph was obtained by the son of the promoter of this tournament.
2-Muhummud Ali plaque -$1500.This plaque was given to Ali over 10 years ago and is in excellent condition.
3-Joe Louis-Max Shmeling vintage puppets from either the 1930s or 1940s-$300 set. These puppets are extremely rare and are in very good condition.
4-Sonny Liston cut signature-$1000.
5-Cassius Clay 1963 cut signature-$900.
6-Sugar Ray Robinson autographed collage poster-$400.
7-Boxing Illustrated autographed by Ali in 1974-1975-$300.This vintage Ali autographs is one of the best ones that I have ever seen on a magazine.
8-Cassius Clay autographed boxing glove from the early 1960s-$1500 or best
offer.

Touching on politics briefly: I don’t know if I feel any safer now that Sadaam has been caught, but I do know the World in general, and Iraq in particular is far better off.

One of the side effects of Sadaam’s downfall, however, does make me feel safer, having Lybia give up it’s WMD’s and decide to be a friend of freedom rather then an enemy. Okay, that’s a stretch, he never said that, but you have to wonder if he felt he was next on our list. And unlike Hussein, he was close to having WMD’s.

As I have said over and over again, it’s them against us, and since we know they are determined to destroy us, we’d better make sure we get as many folks on our side as we can.

This is still a very dangerous world, and now we have to get North Korea, Iran and Syria to fall in line in our fight against the mutual enemy of mankind, Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Bin Laden’s folks are again threatening a major attack on US soil, and they are quite capable of carrying it out. I’m not happy with the national security we have in this country, but while the lack of security has been going on for some time, I do find blame in Washington, because they can do something to tighten our borders and they are not. Hey guys, it’s as simple as putting on more border guards and also creating new and needed jobs to boost that sagging end of our economy.

And it’s not just our porous border with Mexico I write about, because it’s just about as easy to get in from Canada. There’s plenty of land and a chance to create plenty of new and much needed jobs, and are we?

Of course not, because it’s more important to give tax cuts to the rich employers to ship their jobs overseas, and this may someday make America a third world country.

Agree or disagree, I’m sure I’ll hear from you.